Raikkonen Robertson driver Daisuke Nakajima took a competitive second place at Silverstone yesterday, in round 16 of the 2009 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series. The Japanese racer started from pole for the first time in his British F3 career  and despite holding his position at the start, later lost out to fall back to second. Nakajima did well to hold off the close attentions of championship leader Daniel Ricciardo in the final stages of the race to take second place.

Lining up for the first race of the day this morning, Huertas lined up fifth, with Nakajima ninth. Huertas lost out at the start, dropping to sixth place, while Nakajima held onto his ninth place. From then on it was an uneventful race for the Raikkonen Robertson duo, who both held position to the chequered flag, despite a race long determined effort by Huertas to pass fifth place man Henry Arundel. Team mate Kevin Chen meanwhile crossed the line in 17th place.

Having taken his first pole position in the second qualifying session on Saturday, Nakajima led the field away from the grid at the start of round 16, holding off second place Max Chilton in the run down to the first corner. Despite leading his first ever British F3 race, Nakajima coped well with the pressure until Renger van der Zande found a way past on lap ten. Now lying second, Nakajima found himself under attack from Chilton and the two were involved in an intense battle until a clash on lap 11. Nakajima managed to keep his car on track and soon found himself under pressure from race one winner Daniel Ricciardo. Despite the gap being no more than half a second for the remainder of the race and a problem with his rear body work, Nakajima held on to second to take home 15 valuable points to add to his tally. Huertas meanwhile drove a strong race to cross the line fifth, following a race long battle with sixth place man Riki Christodoulou.

Speaking about his second place, Nakajima said: “I’m really pleased to finish on the podium. Obviously I really wanted to take my first win, but I don’t think I made any mistakes and it was the best we could have hoped for in the circumstances. Ricciardo was close at the end of the race but he never really made a serious move. I knew there was a problem at the back of the car I seemed to be losing quite a bit of time down the straights, so I was happy to take second.”

Team Principal Anthony Hieatt was pleased with his team’s performance, adding: “Daisuke did a brilliant job today, if he hadn’t had a problem with his rear bodywork I think he could have won the race. He was really losing out down the straights but did a great job to hold off Ricciardo. He’s a great racer under pressure and deserved at least second place today. Carlos had a good weekend, he’s really coming stronger at the end of the season. The next race at Portimao will be new for everyone so I think both Daisuke and Carlos will be strong there.”